Sweet Christmas
by Masigla
Summary: The day before a group of friends hold their annual Christmas bash, strange events unfold themselves and change the course of events. A heart broken, feelings realized, enraged feelings, but overall a feeling of TOGETHERNESS. [SoraKairi] [COMPLETE]
1. December 22nd

**/ SWEET CHRISTMAS \**  
/ by Masigla \  
/ a two-part Kingdom Hearts Christmas Fic \

**!merry Christmas, everyone!  
**

Author's Note  
I say it again, Merry Christmas! I hope you guys enjoy this fic! I tried my hardest to include the best pairings (which does NOT include RikuxSora… bleah.) so I hope you like eet

Oh, and I decided for this to be a two-part thing. The first chapter is up now (Christmas Eve), and the second chapter will be up by tomorrow! Yay! DOUBLE-CHRISTMAS YAYNESS PWNAGE! HAHA.

  
Pairings  
SoraxKairi  
RikuxLenne (for Zanisha to enjoy, hahahahaha!)  
RoxasxNaminé

Disclaimer  
Kingdom Hearts © Square-Enix & Disney  
Final Fantasy X-2 © Square-Enix & Disney

**CHAPTER O N E  
**

December 22nd. Three days before Christmas, two days before its eve, and a day before the Christmas get-together Selphie had planned at her house. It wasn't a wild party with half the school invited, it was a nice little time during Christmas for she and her friends to hang out, talk about stuff they wouldn't _dare_ talk about in the presence of half the school, and other insane things. She invited only her close friends—Kairi, Sora, Riku, Naminé, Roxas, Orette, Heine, Pints, Tidus, Wakka, and Lenne. As she looked at the list of people coming over, she realized—"I'm close to a lot of people."

A few houses away, Sora was frantically pacing back and forth in his room. Roxas—whom everyone in the school liked to call BHK instead (because his real name, in his opinion, sounded lame, and Selphie had dubbed him "the blonde haired kid" when he first came to the school) –was sitting on Sora's office chair, spinning around in it as his friend panicked.

"Hey Sora," Roxas said, spinning around some more in the blue office chair, "remind me why we're here again."

"I have to figure out what to give Kairi!" Sora said to his friend with panic tainting his voice.

"Sora, the party's _tomorrow_," Roxas sighed, "and you never thought of it until now?"

"What do you expect?" another blonde entered the room. He fashioned green camouflage pants (with matching shoes to boot), a black shirt with an odd design on it in white, and a cropped green vest over the said black shirt. A simple necklace with an "x" pendant dangled over his neck and his left wrist was clad in a brown studded band. His name was Heine, and he was a year older than Sora and Roxas—but a little younger than Riku. His little sister, Naminé, was in Sora and Roxas' grade, but she was one of the younger people in the class. "This is _Sora_ you're talking to. You expect him to do something _ahead_ of time?"

"Well, seeing as this is about _Kairi_," Roxas spun around once more, "I thought he'd at least make an exception for her."

"Look guys, if you're here to talk, give me some suggestions!" Sora said accompanied by an aggravated sigh.

"Give her…" Roxas started, "jewelries or something. Girls like that stuff, right, Heine?"

"Yeah, sure." Heine folded his arms and shrugged, "I do know Naminé likes them… I don't know about Kairi."

"Naminé likes jewelry?" Roxas asked with a slight tint of pink in his cheeks, "She doesn't wear any, though."

"She likes _making_ them." Heine clarified, "Half the time Selphie models it around, since she thinks it's a waste for Naminé to make such 'pretty and fabulous jewelry' and then she'll never wear them."

"So, there you go." Roxas stood up and pat Sora on the back. "Get her a necklace."

"What kind, though?" Sora scratched the back of his spiked-up head.

"Do we look like Selphie to you?" Heine rolled his eyes, "Ask Naminé, or Orette, or Selphie. They would know."

"But then they'd know I like Kairi!" Sora blurted out absent-mindedly.

"You dumbass," Roxas laughed, "We _all_ know you like her!"

"You make it so damn obvious," Heine added.

"R-really? Does _she_ know then!" Sora exclaimed. Roxas and Heine looked at each other and shrugged.

"No one knows."

"Oh."

"Well, I better shove off," Roxas declared, "I have to pick up my skateboard from the shop."

"Oh yeah, they're done fixing it…" Heine nodded as he remembered. Roxas waved goodbye and showed himself out of the house. He looked at Sora and held out his hand, "My CD."

"Oh," Sora snapped out of his _whatshouldIgiveKairi_? trance and walked over to his desk, where a CD case was sitting. Sora took it in his hands and gave it to Heine. "there. Thanks for lending it to me."

"You're welcome." Heine gave Sora a thumb up. "Good music, no? Well I'm going now. Good luck with finding her a gift."

"Yeah." Sora said, saying goodbye to Heine, who lived just next door. He sighed, feeling like he had not made much progress in terms of finding Kairi a gift. He plopped down on his bed and rolled to his side, examining the items placed in a messy order on his beside table. There was a lamp, a radio alarm clock, a bunch of other random things, but most importantly, in a black, sleek frame was a photo. It was no ordinary photo—it dated all the way back to Sora's childhood… if he had remembered correctly, he was around 8 when that photo was taken. A whole six years, Sora thought, as he studied the photo carefully. It was one of him, Riku, Selphie, Tidus, and… Kairi. Naminé and Heine moved in two years after, and Roxas came a year after them. Orette, Pints, and Lenne were always there, but they never became close until middle school.

Closing his blue eyes, he drifted off to a brief sleep. As if right on queue, a flashback had hit him.

"_Hey Kairi,"_

"_What is it, Sora?"_

"_What are you making?"_

"_Oh, this? It's a Thalassa necklace, silly! I'm making it for my mommy because she's going away on a trip. It's supposed to give them good luck!"_

"_Oh… Can I help?"_

Waking up in a jolt, Sora knew right away what he wanted to give Kairi—a Thalassa necklace. Of course, he lacked the skill, the patience, nor (most importantly) the time, but he could buy one, right? He wondered if she would get made that he didn't make it himself, but he had something else in mind to go along with the necklace. Getting off his bed, he straightened his outfit out and grabbed his wallet.

"Where are you going?" his mom inquired as he hurriedly came down the staircase.

"I have to go buy a gift... for… eh, it doesn't matter."

"I thought your friends had a rule that you just gave each other cards so no one feels left out?"

"Exactly mom… I need to go buy err, cards." Sora waved goodbye to his mom and shut the door behind him.

Finding the necklace was easy enough. He knew the exact place to go. He went to the souvenir shop in town, where tourists often came. Thalassa necklaces were famous as memoirs to tourists who visited Destiny Islands—Sora's mind lingered on the thought of whether or not Kairi would get made for getting one.

But then again, it was special enough that she got something besides a _card_. Sora had decided he would give her the necklace in private so the others wouldn't find out. Mostly, it was just him being scared of Selphie exploding in his face along with a total spaz about "the rules" and "the rules bound by destiny".

After purchasing the necklace, he went off to a stationery store, where he bought cards for everyone. Another rule was that you had to put a message specifically to that person in each card, that way it's a little bit _more_ than just a _card_. It was easy way back when there were only a few of them, but their circle of friends had suddenly exploded sometime during their time in middle school—but the more, the merrier, right?

"Hey, Sora, man!" an accented voice greeted him. "Last-minute gift shopping, eh?"

"W-wakka?" Sora turned around to see Wakka behind him as he walked back home. "Y-yeah." He shoved one hand in his pocket, holding on tightly to the necklace to make sure it didn't _fall out_.

"Hey Sora!" Tidus greeted after catching up with Wakka. "Up for a round?"

"Not right now guys, sorry." Sora bowed down briefly and took off.

"Haha, he's in such a rush." Tidus laughed, soon to be accompanied by the orange-haired Wakka standing next to him.

"This year's party sure is gonna be interestin', ya?"

"RIKU!" Sora practically shouted into the phone as soon as his platinum-haired friend picked up the phone.

"Jesus Christ, Sora!" Riku exclaimed on the other end.

"Sorry." the brown-haired boy calmed down, "I got Kairi a gift… like, something other than a card."

"I'm not surprised." Riku said. Even though they were talking on the phone, something inside Sora told him Riku was smirking. "What did you get her?"

"A necklace," Sora answered nervously, "do you think she'll like it?"

"Yeah, sure. Sora, I have to go." Riku said.

"Huh? You busy?"

"Not exactly… erm, Lenne's on the other line, actually."

"Oh," Sora laughed sheepishly, "_Lenne_."

"It's not really funny, Sora."

"Sorry. What happened?"

"Shuyin broke up with her… poor girl's a wreck right now."

"Oh… I'll hang up, then. Talk to you later,"

"Bye."

Sora sighed. As soon as he put down the phone, it rang. "Hello?"

"Sora—it's Kairi."

Sora's heart soared for a moment, then it stopped and started off once again, except on a faster beat, "K-kairi! Haha, what's up?"

"Have you heard about Lenne?" she asked.

"Yeah, just did."

"Shuyin was cheating on her…" Kairi's voice was full of sadness—and Sora wanted to take it away, "and now she's miserable… I'm afraid she won't come to the party tomorrow and become… suicidal. You know how kids our age can get…"

"I do," Sora said agreeingly. "I'm sure Riku's doing a good job cheering her up."

"I think he loves her." Kairi said, managing to stifle a giggle.

"Haha, I think so too."

A moment of silence. It was painfully awkward. It suddenly occurred to the both of them that for the first time in their lives, they couldn't find any topic to talk about. Yes, it was _painfully awkward to the eleventh power_.

"So…" Sora started, shifting comfortably on the sofa he was sitting on, "…excited for the err… party?"

"Yeah, I guess." Kairi sighed, "But all of this with Lenne and Naminé and—"

"Wait, Naminé? What happened to Naminé?"

"No one told you yet? Or are you just blind?" Kairi joked, "She likes BHK."

"Oh, figures." Sora shrugged. "When did it ever become like this?"

"What, Sora?" Kairi asked, surprised by the sudden seriousness in his usually cheerful and optimistic voice.

"I mean, I can remember perfectly the times when we all just hanged out," Sora started, "Now it's different… now there are all these emotions mixed and it just makes everything so _awkward!_"

"I guess it's part of life." Kairi shrugged. "Listen, Sora, I have to go. I'll talk to you later or I'll see you."

"Yeah, sure, bye." Sora pressed the TALK button on the cordless and set it on the nearby coffee table.

It was shaping up to be one interesting Christmas.


	2. December 23rd

**/ SWEET CHRISTMAS \**  
/ by Masigla \  
/ a two-part Kingdom Hearts Christmas Fic \

**!merry Christmas, everyone!  
**

Author's Note  
Here's the second part of the Christmas fic! I hope you guys enjoy your Christmas Day, because mine was pretty much ruined, anyways. Just those three words, "They're not coming." Urgh. Ringing in my head. Grah. –perks up- ANYWAYS. Sorry for the err, boring-ness of the previous chapter.

LOL, there's a pun from my other fic _Seasons of Love_ in here. You'll find it if you've read it. XD

**THIS IS A VERY LONG CHAPTER. **It's the longest one I've written in my life.

Pairings  
SoraxKairi  
RikuxLenne (for Zanisha to enjoy, hahahahaha!)  
RoxasxNaminé

Disclaimer  
Kingdom Hearts © Square-Enix & Disney  
Final Fantasy X-2 © Square-Enix & Disney  
Pac-Man © Namco

**  
CHAPTER T W O**

December 23rd. The day of the party. It was afternoon, and the party was to begin at 5:00, with a moviefest. They would always all sit in Selphie's home theater and watch countless numbers of DVDs, often pausing at silly moments to come up with some jokes (which half the time were perverted) about the particular moment. There was a buffet of nothing but what their Health teacher at school called _crap. _But who ever paid attention to what she said? They would also watch some movies they took from _last_ year's Christmas party. It was another tradition of theirs that someone had to be taping at least _most_ of the party so they would be able to laugh about it next year. And last but not the least, Karaoke. It was Lenne's favorite part of the party, just because she was the best singer out of them all. She had almost gotten a record deal, but she turned it down because she was afraid that she'd have to spend less time with Shuyin.

Kairi was the first to arrive at Selphie's house, arriving at about 3:30. She was _always_ the first to come, being the one whom Selphie was closest to. She often helped Selphie out with whatever she needed to do before the party, including setting up the movies and picking outfits and the like.

She was wearing a pink cami top under a white lacey cardigan whose long sleeves flared out at the end. She was also clad in a dark blue jean skirt, and white flip-flops. Her auburn, layered, shoulder-length hair was worn down, with two small clips on the right side to keep her bangs out of her face (for the most part). Selphie wore a green dress similar to the yellow one she was often fashioned in, except this green one celebrated Christmas by having what Sora and the other guys called the _white fuzzy stuff_ (for a lack of a better name) on the end of the dress. On her arms, she wore red arm warmers and her legs were kept warm by some floppy schoolgirl style leg warmers. Though Destiny Islands was generally a warm place, being a tropical archipelago and all, winter could get a little chilly.

"Kairi," Selphie said to her auburn-haired friend, "your outfit isn't really Christmas-y at all!" She smiled and dug into her box of hats.

"Oh _god_ , Selphie." Kairi's voice quivered with an etch of fear, "_Please_ don't let this be like the opening night of _Larry Botter_ _and the Goblet of Flame_… I was dying of embarrassment."

"Kairi, that was a _witch_ hat. At least we didn't put you in cloaks like the others."

"Well, at least in a cloak, people wouldn't have recognized me."

"We _told _you to tip your hat so it covered your face."

"How would you have expected me to see then?"

Selphie shrugged. "This is just a Santa hat, Kairi. _Everyone_ wears a Santa hat on Christmas! No need to be afraid!"

"Let's see _you_ wear one." Kairi said sarcastically. Selphie pointed to the _white fuzzy stuff_ on her dress and the color scheme of her clothes.

"That would be overkill. The only Christmas-y color you're wearing is white! So pleeease, wear it?" Selphie held the red Santa hat out and gave Kairi the puppy dog pout.

"Fine, fine," Kairi laughed, "I guess it won't hurt."

xxx

"Should I wear a Santa hat?" Roxas asked Heine as they walked over to Selphie's house. Naminé had gone ahead before them and was already at Selphie's house, and so was Orette.

"Whatever," Heine shrugged. On the way to Selphie's house were Kairi's house, Sora's, Pints', and Lenne's. The other's houses, Roxas and Heine had already passed by.

"Who's that at Lenne's porch?" Roxas blurted out, pointing to a lone figure standing on the porch of their friend. Walking by casually yet having their eyes glued onto the said figure, they quickly realized who it was.

"It's Riku!" Roxas shouted. Their silver-haired friend turned around and waved at them.

"Hey man," Heine said as he and Roxas walked up to the porch, "what're you doing?"

"Waiting for Lenne. Just rang the doorbell." Riku said.

"Why?" Roxas asked.

Riku wasn't sure himself. He knew Lenne was still in a depressed state and didn't even want to come to the party this year, but Riku knew that maybe if he escorted her there, she would feel better. "I left something here."

"Oh." Roxas nodded. Heine, being a year older than Roxas, immediately thought of something completely different. Riku eyed the taller blonde suspiciously.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," Heine said accompanied by a nervous laugh. "Roxas and I'll go ahead, 'kay? Bye!" he declared, pulling the younger one with a confused look on his face along with him.

"What was that about? We're not in a rush, are we?" Roxas asked.

"Holy shit, man!" Heine exclaimed as soon as they were a bit far from Lenne's.

"Huh?"

"He _left_ something. Something must have happened between them."

"Oh, is that it?" Roxas laughed, "You're a perverted bastard, Heine. I mean Lenne just got heartbr—"

"I'm sure that's what happened!" Heine interrupted, leading Roxas up to Selphie's porch and ringing the doorbell furiously a number of times. In a matter of seconds, Selphie answered the door.

"Selphie, something just happened!" Heine shouted.

"What?" Selphie asked, standing idly by her doorway. Heine pushed her gently aside and ran down to the basement, where the home theater was. There, Kairi, Naminé and Orette were busy talking _girl stuff_ and reading magazines.

"What?" Selphie asked, her confused gaze directed towards Roxas, who merely shrugged.

"I think he misunderstood everything in that perverted mind of his." Roxas said, going down to the basement. Selphie raised an eyebrow as she closed the door.

"What, what happened, Heine?" Orette asked.

"We passed by Lenne's," he started, taking in a couple of breaths before continuing.

"Is she alright?" Kairi asked.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Heine said, "Something happened between her and Riku."

"WHAT!" The three girls, plus Selphie, who had just entered, shouted in disbelief.

"It's true!" Heine waved his arms up in the air. "See, BHK and I were walking here, and we saw him, and he said 'he forgot something'! SHIT, MAN!"

His friends merely blinked their eyes. He frowned as he saw their reactions-- Naminé's face made contact with her palm as she shook her head in embarrassment, Roxas was trying his damn hardest not to laugh, Kairi and Orette were giving each other looks of '_oh jeez, what a retard!', _and Selphie was already rolling on the floor, laughing. Very hard.

"You—" Roxas bit his lip as his eyes watered from keeping in the laughter too long, "YOU IDIOT! HAHAHA."

Naminé giggled, "Really, Heine. Where did you come up with that?"

"He _forgot_ something!" Heine said with extra emphasis on the word 'forgot'.

"What does that prove?" Kairi raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"It proves that…" Heine scratched the back of his head, "That he was spending time with her. What if what he forgot was an article of clothing! That proves something!"

"But we don't even know what he forgot," Orette said, "for all we know it could be a sock."

"So! People have to remove their socks when they have—"

"STOP!" Naminé flinched, "Stop right there, Heine! I can't believe you! They did not do _it_!"

"Well, that's Heine for you, Naminé," Kairi shrugged.

"Mom's going to hear about this."

"Naminé!"

"HAHAHA!" Selphie said, laughing some more. The doorbell then rang, signaling the arrival of more people. "I'll get that!"

"Why don't you guys believe me anyways?" Heine asked. The laughter suddenly stopped and they all looked at him.

"You didn't hear, did you?" Kairi sighed, "Shuyin broke up with her last night. Riku's probably there trying to make her feel better, since he's her best friend and all."

"I talked to her awhile ago, actually." Naminé stated, "She still sounded depressed… I could only imagine how she sounded like last night."

"Oh." Heine looked down, feeling totally embarrassed at what he said.

"That's okay, Heine." Orette smiled, "At least the whole thing ended before Riku got here… just think how insane it would have gotten if they were here and you started talking about that."

"Hey, what's happenin' everyone?" Wakka greeted with spirit as he entered the room. He came with Tidus, who was holding a bunch of DVDs in an arm, and Pints—the official cameraman. "We brought some movies, ya!"

"Please," Naminé pleaded, "no horror movies?"

"No R rated ones, either." Orette rolled her eyes.

"Aww, man!" Tidus snapped, then smirked. "Just kidding!"

"You had better been."

"Where's Sora?" Kairi blurted out. Everyone looked at her.

"Dunno," Roxas shrugged. "he's probably doing something last minute, as usual."

"Hahaha. Niice, BHK." Selphie remarked as she reentered the basement with bags of chips. "They better get here soon… we have to start!"

"I have the camera all set to go," Pints said as he took out a brand new camcorder.

"Whoa," Roxas said in awe, "Christmas present?"

"Nope, got something different for Christmas," Pints smirked, "I've been saving up on this baby all year! Her name's _Maria_."

xxx

"You don't have to take me there, Riku." Lenne said to the boy at her porch. "I don't think I'm going this year."

"Why not?" Riku wasn't giving up. He knew she would give in sooner or later, after all, they were her _friends_—if her boyfriend broke up with her, she was supposed to confide in them, not withdraw from the whole world and stay in a dark room all day. Needless to say, he was worried. Deeply worried.

"I just… don't feel like it this year… you know? Like, last year, Shuyin called me a crapload of times just to tell me that he loved him... I'm sure I won't be able to go back to those times. They're never coming back."

Riku looked down. _What if I say that right now? Hold on, Riku! Get a freaking grip on yourself! She _just _got her heart broken. I don't think this is the right time to ask her out. Daaamn!_

"Riku?" Lenne asked. Riku looked up at the girl, blushing slightly. Her hair in the moonlight was beautiful, framing the face of the one Riku had grown to love as more than _just_ a best friend. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, sure." Riku stammered. He was known for being slick, and witty. And here he was stammering. "I'm fine. Are you sure you don't want to go? I mean, what harm can it do?"

"You know how we tape everything that happens?" Lenne started. Riku answered with a nod of his head. "And remember how I just said that Shuyin called me a lot to remind me of his undying love? Put the pieces together, Riku."

"Sure. But…"

"I'm not coming this year Riku, tell the others I'm sorry." she bowed down apologetically to him, then turned around to reenter her house.

"Wait, Lenne." Riku grabbed a hold of her wrist and pulled her back a bit. "Please come. I'm not taking no for an answer."

"I noticed." Lenne sighed. "Why the desperate act? You guys can survive without me."

"Do it, please, Lenne." Riku tried to find the words to say, "For everyone's sake. Would you really miss out on a chance to own everyone's asses in Karaoke? Would you really miss watching the tapes from last year, like when Tidus snorted when he laughed and that caused soda to spurt out of Sora's nose?"

Lenne sighed and turned around to face her friend. "Times have changed, Riku. Everyone's become more mature… everyone's moved on. I'm too old for silly stuff like that."

"Lenne…"

"But…" she took in a deep breath, "I'll come."

Riku's frown curved up into a smile, "That's great," he said.

"But only because you got started on that speech." Lenne chuckled. Riku smiled even more. It had been the first time since her breakup that she had given even the slightest hint of laughter.

xxx

"Sora! You lazy bum!" Kairi yelled at the boy who stood at the top of the staircase leading down to the basement. Selphie jumped off the last step and joined Naminé and Orette in their talking. The guys, at this point, were arguing over which action movie they were going to watch. "What took you so long?"

"Lost track of time," he shyly scratched the back of his head. "sorry."

"That's okay," Kairi smiled, "just come over here. Do you know where Riku and Lenne are?"

"I don't know," Pints said as he set up his camera and plugged in his charged and put in another battery so when the one he was currently using drained out, he had a replacement right away. "But I'm gonna start rolling the tapes now!"

"Dunno," Sora said as he came down the stairs. The doorbell then rang—in an instant, everyone's heads jerked up. That was either the Pizza delivery or none other than Riku and Lenne.

Selphie squealed as she jumped up and ran towards the basement staircase. Sora's eyes widened as he saw the girl stampeding towards the staircase, and immediately pinned himself onto the wall, so that she wasn't on a collision course with him anymore. She hyperactive girl zoomed up the stairs.

"YOU GUYS ARE FINALLY HERE!"

Everyone in the basement laughed softly, wondering what took the two so long. Most of their eyes were on Heine, remembering vividly his whole misunderstanding. Heine pouted, a look of '_Okay, I get it—stop bugging me about it!'_ engraved on his face. Sora raised his eyebrow as he wasn't there early enough to know what everyone was looking at Heine for, but he had a feeling it had something to do with Heine's hormones getting to his head.

He studied the seating arrangement and noticed that every year, as they all grew older and older, it also got harder and harder for everyone to fit on the sofa. When they were in 8th grade (which was two years ago), Selphie's parents took the initiative and bought a larger sofa. But the growth spurts had caused the sofa to seem small again. The girls already took up most of the space, Heine had claimed the recliner to himself (being third oldest), Wakka sat on the floor with Tidus, and Roxas wasn't even sitting down yet. The blonde was busy playing around with his newly-fixed skateboard in the basement. Of course, he didn't pull off some hardcore moves, he just balanced on it. Roxas looked at Sora and jerked his head pointedly towards the spot where Kairi was sitting. There was another spot available. There was still the two-seater couch, but it had "_Riku and Lenne sit here_" written all over it, so Sora kept away. He found himself stuck with either "sit beside Kairi", or "sit on the floor". He shrugged it off and sat on the floor. Selphie probably would spaz at him for stealing her spot if he had sat beside Kairi.

"Hey everyone," Riku greeted as he entered the basement. As expected, he saw the two-seater and immediately sat on it. Riku wasn't the type to sit on the floor. He didn't expect Lenne to sit beside him though, and shifted uncomfortably a bit when she did. Everyone smirked.

"Okay! Now we have everyone, we can start!" Selphie squealed, sitting on the couch beside Kairi. Roxas put his skateboard aside and sat on the floor beside Sora.

"Who's got the recliner? _Whooooo's_ got the recliner!" Heine boasted.

"No one cares, Heine." Pints said.

"What do you guys want to do first?" Kairi asked everyone. She turned to Lenne and noticed the sadness still tainting her brown eyes. "I guess we're doing Karaoke first, then!" She smiled as she saw Lenne perk up a bit.

"Can I go fist? Please?" Lenne asked. Kairi nodded as she stood up, got the Karaoke microphone and songbook and handed it to Lenne. Grabbing the songbook from Kairi, Lenne flipped through the pages. She _always_ picked "_I'll be Home for Christmas_" first. She had already memorized what number to put for that song to play, so when she started flipping through the pages, everyone was a bit startled.

She had picked another Christmas song, yes, but this year was different. The song title flashed on the screen as the background music began playing a mellow tune, "_Last Christmas"_.

"Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day, you gave it away. This year, to save me from tears, I'll give it to someone special." she sang. Tidus and Roxas started swaying their arms slowly up in the air, as though they were in a concert. Kairi and the girls giggled.

Lenne continued singing the song with a little bit of swaying. Riku smiled as he watched her, happy that he convinced her to come. As the chorus started to be repeated, she slowly turned towards Riku. Lenne changed the lyrics of the last chorus to suit her situation better, causing her score to decrease by a bit, but she didn't care anymore. Everyone watched in full interest as they watched things unfold.

"Last Christmas, I gave him my heart, but the very next year, he gave it away." At this point, she was facing Riku and walking slowly, closer to him. "This year, to save me from tears, I'll give it to someone special…" she smiled as she bent over and kissed Riku's cheek.

"Ooh!" Everyone cooed. Pints caught it all on tape, too. Next year, they would look at this and have tears in their eyes.

"Thanks for cheering me up, Riku." Lenne smiled as Riku turned completely red. "I wouldn't be here right now without you."

"Y-you're welcome." Riku stammered again. Yet another highlight added to the year's current tape—Riku stammering.

So the party went on, and after the Karaoke competition (which of course, Lenne won), they proceeded to watching the tapes from last year.

"I have it all on here," Pints said as he dug through his bag and found tapes, "last year's Christmas party."

"Oh my God," Tidus said, "this is the one where I snorted?"

"YES." Selphie started to laugh.

"And the coke…" Sora mumbled. Wakka and Riku laughed at the spikey-haired boy, "Hey, you guys have no idea how much it hurts for soda to come out your nose!"

"Wanna bet?" Riku smirked. Sora smirked back.

Sora took in a deep breath, and looked at Tidus, who seemed scared to know what his brown haired friend had in store for him. He looked at Wakka, who was taking a sip from a soda (coincidentally enough).

"WAKAWAKAWAKAWAKAWAKAWAKA!" Sora shouted. Immediately everyone burst out in laughter, and Tidus snorted.

"HOLY SHIT, MUHN!" Wakka bursted out, the sprite he had been drinking spurting out of his nose in the very same manner that it did with Sora in the previous year.

"GOLDEN!" Pints exclaimed as he caught it all on tape. The reason for laughter? The previous year, they were playing Pac-Man, and were trying to figure out what exactly the sounds were. Then Roxas jumped up and said they were saying "WAKAWAKAWAKA", and everyone burst out in laughter. "Oh man, this is golden! RICH!"

"You owe me five bucks, Riku." Sora held out his hand to his silver-haired friend, "Fork it over,"

"Haha, fine, fine." Riku reached to his back pocket and got his wallet, and gave Sora a 5-munny bill.

So they started watching the movies from last year.

"Geez, everyone looks so young!" Roxas exclaimed.

"We all had growth spurts," Orette added, "ooh my, is that you, Kairi?"

"Your hair's so short!" Naminé said, looking back and forth from present-day Kairi to last year-Kairi.

"You're one to talk, Naminé." Kairi pointed at the screen, showing Naminé with shoulder length hair. Presently, her hair was the longest among all the girls.

"Ehehe," Naminé laughed softly. Then came a moment no one expected, nor noticed from last year. Pints had set the camera on a tripod and complained that his arm was getting tired. The view from the tripod gave a very clear view of Naminé's face.

"_The Christmas dance at school _sucked!" _Tidus exclaimed out of the blue._

"_Not for me," Riku said, smirking. Some things never change._

"_You had like 10 girls lining up for you, man!" Heine said, "I say you dye your hair black!"_

"_What the hell? You had like 3, Heine!" Sora exclaimed._

_  
"You had that girl from 8th grade who snuck in to the high school dance some how!" Selphie laughed._

"_Don't remind me." Sora sighed, "She was like, stalking me!"_

"_And she was wearing a trench coat and a hat, too." Orette added, "How stealthy of her."_

"_I didn't dance," Roxas put his feet up on the chair. "not like anyone would want to, haha." His laugh faded off as he abruptly looked at Naminé, and looked away._

"_You're a chocobo when it comes to dancing, BHK." Kairi laughed._

"_I would," came a whisper. Above all the laughter, it couldn't be heard, but the camera did. Naminé bowed her head and mumbled something incomprehensible. Her cheeks could be seen slightly—they were pink._

"Oh my…" Kairi gasped. "Naminé?"

Roxas looked over to the blonde girl, who was now completely red and looking down. His eyes widened. Heine jolted up from his comfortable decision.

"Naminé! What did we say? No dating until you're married!"

"Lay off, muhn." Wakka said. "Let them handle dis."

"Y-you see," Naminé fumbled with her skirt, "it's been a year now."

"A… a year?" Roxas asked softly. Naminé nodded.

"I… I've liked you since high school started." she blurted out. "I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me, I just—"

"It's okay, Naminé…" Kairi patted her friend's back. Roxas didn't know what to do. Heine was feeling very uncomfortable—seeing his own little sister confess to his best friend. To top it all off, he was an overprotective brother.

"Naminé…" Roxas said. "I didn't know, I'm… sorry." Naminé looked up.

"It's my fault. I should have fessed up earlier." she looked down again.

"No, it's okay," Roxas stood up and place his hands on her tiny shoulders. He was almost afraid that if he had tightened his grip on her more, she would break. "I'm sorry I didn't fess up earlier, too."

"What do you mean?" Naminé asked.

"It's been the same with me, Naminé. Ever since high school began. I would have danced with you too last year… and this year, too," he said, "but I was afraid."

"…so was I," she said. The two stared into each other's eyes, and for a moment everything around them disappeared. Pints closed up on their faces. Sometimes he wondered if that was a right decision.

"N-nami—" Heine interjected, but Riku quickly shushed him.

"It's time you learn what it is to be a real brother," Riku whispered.

"So I guess I should say," Roxas said. "I really like you, Naminé."

"Aww," Selphie cooed, but Orette shushed her like Riku did to Heine.

"M-me too," Naminé said, "I-I mean! I… I really like you too, BH--….Roxas."

"YAY!" Selphie broke out. Everyone shouted in triumph and clapped their hands.

"Another couple to celebrate!" Kairi smiled as she clapped her hands enthusiastically.

"Y-yeah…" Sora clapped along.

"Man, this is when I wish we weren't underage!" Tidus yelled.

"No one wants to see you wasted, Tidus." Pints said as he whistled for the new couple.

"Relax, Heine." Orette said as Naminé's brother had a look of bewilderment on his face, "At least it's BHK, not some horny guy from school."

"I… I guess you're right." Heine sighed in defeat. "I'm happy for you two, I really am."

"Th-thanks…" Naminé said to her brother.

After the watching more tapes from the previous year, they proceeded to watching movies from various genres—from romance to comedy to action to horror. They were in the middle of watching "_The Fantabulous 4"_ when their supply of chips started decreasing to a noticeably low level.

"I'll go get more chips, guys." Kairi said as she stood up. Sora immediately shoved his hand into his pocket, making sure that the necklace he had bought the day before was there—and it was. He decided this would be the perfect moment to give her the necklace in private, and waited until she had left the basement.

"Umm, I have to go... to the bathroom." Sora blurted out, standing up and discreetly walking up the stairway and out the basement.

"Guys," Tidus said, "I think he's gonna fess up. Did you see how he just left right after Kairi did?"

"Who wants to go and eavesdrop?" Selphie asked. Pints raised his hand. "Alrighty then. Pints and I will go eavesdrop and he can get it on film so we can watch it next year!"

"Take a deep breath," Sora said to himself as he did what he told himself to do. "You can't mess up. You practiced what you're gonna say." He walked into the kitchen where Kairi was. Unbeknownst to him, Selphie and Pints followed close behind in silence, peeking out from a gap in the doorway to the basement. The gap was big enough for Pints' camera to peep through.

"Oh, hey, Sora." Kairi said, standing on her tiptoes and trying to get a bag of chips that was at the top shelf, "Could you get me the bag of chips at the top?"

"Uhh, yeah, sure." Sora walked over and got the bag. He handed it to her, then shoved his hands into his pockets again. It was becoming a habit. "Uhh, I need to tell you something, Kairi."

"Okay, I guess the others can wait for their chips." Kairi said, putting the bags on a counter and smiling at him. "What is it?"

"Err," Sora dug through his pocket and pulled out the necklace, "this is for you." He said quickly as he held it out.

"F…for me?" Kairi said, eyeing the necklace, "It's a Thalassa necklace… Sora, why—"

"I…" Sora looked away as he felt the blood rush to his cheeks, "I felt like I needed to give you something special this year. Not just a card. I didn't have enough time to make it, so I bought it, but I hope you still like it."

"But Sora," Kairi took the necklace in her hands, "I'm not going anywhere, silly. The necklace is for travelers."

"I know," Sora took a deep breath. This was his moment now. Selphie and Pints grinned behind the door, listening intently. "but we're all growing up, Kairi. I'm wishing you luck on a different kind of journey… We're… you know, going to meet other people and stuff, and date other people… stuff like that. But I'm giving you the necklace so you know that in your journey to umm, adulthood, I guess, I'm there with you. It's a remembrance thing."

"Oh, Sora…" Kairi smiled at her friend. Since when did he care so much? He was always a friend to her, but now she felt as if though both of them longed for something more than just that. He had always liked him, but as a friend. But now, things were different. Maybe the journey that Sora was talking about had already begun, and he was the first person that came by her. "How sweet."

"Yeah… just… just _don't_ date the wrong guys, Kai. That… worries me."

By now Kairi felt the tears trying to push their way through her bluish purple eyes, "I'll keep that in mind, Sora. I really will. I have something to give to you, too."

"You do?" Sora's eyes widened. Kairi retrieved her purse from the living room, and pulled out a card.

"I know it's just a card, but it's different from everyone else's." Kairi said, blushing as she handed him the card.

_Love is smiling on the inside and out._

_-Jennifer Williams-_

_Sora,_

_I know it's weird… your card has a love quote on it. I didn't know when else to tell you this and I thought Christmas would be the perfect time. I know Valentine's Day would've been good too, but I don't think this can wait any longer. When we entered Middle school, Sora, I noticed things started to change. You and Riku started looking at other girls, Selphie and I did the same (except for guys, duh!)… at one point I was even crushing on Riku (yeah I know, weird!). _

"Riku!" Sora gave Kairi a strange stare. She laughed and pointed to the card.

"Just read it."

_But things really changed when we came into highschool, and you started becoming more popular with other girls. Sometimes I'd hear them talking about you. I thought they were nothing but annoying, but I guess… this sounds weird, but I was jealous. I wanted to be able to talk freely about, yes, you… but I knew if I had talked about you like that, everyone would instantly you know, make me seem weird, considering you're my best friend and all… but in the end, they made me realize my real feelings for you._

_Read the quote again, Sora. Now, when I smile, you know what it means._

_Your true friend and possibly more than that,_

_Kairi._

Sora looked up from the card and to the girl. He didn't believe it—she actually returned his feelings?

"So…" Kairi looked down as she blushed, "What do you say…"

"…I say," Sora smiled, "we start on our journey. _Together_."


End file.
